Forced to be a concubine? I turned around and married the scumbag's father.

Mu Junyan sat in his study reviewing the files sent by the Ministry of War.

Dongmo, who was serving him, noticed that his master hadn't turned a single page in almost a quarter of an hour, so it must be a very important page.

She gently poured a cup of hot tea: "My lord, would you like to have a cup of tea and rest for a while?"

Mu Junyan put down the file, picked up his tea, and glanced at the three plates of snacks on the coffee table.

A plate of lotus seed pastries, a plate of peach blossom wine, and a plate of lifelike, emerald green flower-shaped tea cakes.

Mu Junyan narrowed his eyes slightly.

That night, Gu Hua sat in his lap, looking up with a smiling face, and said to him sweetly, "My lord, I will make you snacks every day from now on."

...The next day, her fiancé cousin suddenly appeared looking for her.

He gave away a thousand taels right away.

Where are his snacks?

Vanished without a trace.

Mu Junyan felt a tightness in his chest. He took a sip of hot tea and picked up a piece of peach blossom wine to taste.

Not too sweet, yet with a delightful aroma.

Just like when she's not smiling, she's as aloof and proud as a snow lotus.

Let's try another lotus seed pastry.

The lotus petals bloom, as radiant and gentle as her smile.

Then I picked up another fancy emerald green tea pastry.

The skin was soft and the filling was sweet, and the taste was amazing. Mu Junyan could even taste a bit of her delicate and smooth skin.

He said slowly, "It's alright, but there's too much sugar."

Once they learned to be filial and please the old lady, they forgot their promise to him.

A cunning fox who wins people's hearts!

Dongmo's eyes darted around: "My lord, I'll go fetch dinner."

"Ah."

Dong Mo went straight to the steward's office in the front yard, whispered a few words to Zhou Chunyu, and then went to the kitchen.

Zhou Chunyu turned around and went to Ya Yun Ge.

When Zhou Zhilan saw her brother arrive, she quickly came out and asked in surprise, "Brother, what brings you here?"

Zhou Chunyu whispered a few words to her and then left.

Gu Hua looked at Zhou Zhilan, who was trying not to laugh, and asked curiously, "What's making you happy?"

Zhou Zhilan smiled and said, "Brother said that life in the army is tough and there's not much good food. It's rare that the lord likes the snacks you make. He's making you go to all this trouble. Make some snacks for the lord when you have time. The old lady loves sweets, so the lord should eat something a little lighter, with less sugar."

Gu Hua was surprised.

Did Mu Junyan eat the pastries made by the old lady at her place?

If he wanted something to eat, he should have just told Dongmo directly. Why did he have to beat around the bush and ask someone to help him ask her to make him some snacks?

Gu Hua suddenly remembered...

That day, I told him I was going to make him some snacks while he was in my arms.

A slight flutter in her heart, and her face flushed.

This is a good sign.

"Yes, after dinner, I'll go to the kitchen and make one or two late-night snacks for my lord."

“Okay.” Zhou Zhilan smiled mysteriously.

Gu Hua's face turned red again.

She was making plans.

Tonight... I'll find an opportunity to bring up the matter of Consort Pei switching babies, and ask the Duke to send someone to help her.

……

When Dongmo went to the kitchen, she saw Yinzhi with a maid. Yinzhi was putting a stew pot into Gu Wanru's food box.

"Aunt Yin, why did you come to collect dinner in person?"

Dongmo was very curious.

She has rarely appeared in public since she became a concubine.

Yinzhi glanced at him, her expression somewhat unnatural: "No, the young mistress prepared a tonic for the master and the second young lady, so I came to check on it. Are you serving the master's meal? Perfect, take this bowl."

Yinzhi pointed to a stewing pot.

"Yes."

Dongmo looked at the three bowls of stew on the table and couldn't help but feel puzzled.

When the young mistress prepares nourishing dishes for herself and the young master, she usually adds a bowl for the master as well.

Whether the lord eats it or not depends on the lord's mood.

But the young mistress never cooked it for Miss Hua.

Is this... a change of heart?

"Different ingredients?" Dongmo curiously leaned closer and lifted the lid of another bowl.

Yinzhi hurriedly pressed down: "These are all precious medicinal herbs for replenishing qi and blood that the young mistress bought herself. They are stewed with pigeon, and the recipe is the same. Put this bowl in the food box, so you don't take the wrong one."

They're all the same, how could you have picked the wrong one?

"Oh."

Dongmo found her expression strange, but didn't think about it further.

"Dongmo, this is the lord's food box. Just put a stewing pot in it as well."

The kitchen manager personally packed the master's dinner box and handed it over.

"Oh, what a coincidence, Dongmo is here too."

The crisp sound of winter flowers drifted over.

Dongmo was about to take the stew pot that Yinzhi had pointed to when he heard this, but he turned around and chuckled.

"Oh, everyone's here today, even Aunt Yin is here."

Because of Gu Hua, Dong Hua disliked Aunt Yin and the young mistress, and wouldn't even greet them properly, just letting out a "yo-ho" sound.

"How could Consort Yin, with her noble and pampered status, be doing the work of servants? Has she not forgotten her status as a servant?"

Yinzhi's face was pale, but she held back and didn't say anything.

Donghua found it strange. Yinzhi always had her eyes on the top of her head and wished she could be the young mistress's mouth mum.

Now that she's climbed into the young master's bed, how come her personality has changed?

Donghua, recalling the mistreatment her own daughter had suffered, couldn't help but continue to mock her: "Oh, by the way, you're still a servant girl."

Yinzhi always considered herself to be of a higher status than ordinary servants and was used to bullying Gu Hua. Now that Gu Hua's maid had humiliated her in public, she couldn't hold back any longer.

"Then you must address me respectfully as Auntie, for my status is higher than yours! Today, I will teach you what respect and hierarchy mean on behalf of your master!"

After saying that, he rushed forward and raised his hand to slap Donghua.

Donghua flung her face away, but instead, a slap landed on Dongqing's face, who was standing to the side trying to mediate the fight.

With a crisp sound, Dongqing's left cheek immediately swelled up.

When Donghua saw her sisters being beaten, she flew into a rage and rolled up her sleeves, ready to fight.

Yinzhi missed slapping Donghua, and when she raised her hand again, her wrist was grabbed tightly.

"Dongmo, how dare you lay a hand on me!"

Yinzhi glared angrily, her face turning ashen.

Dongmo shoved her away without any politeness: "Yinzhi, don't go too far. This is the kitchen. If you ruin the masters' meals and delay their dining, can you take responsibility?"

Yinzhi's chest heaved with anger, her heart filled with fury.

The entire Duke's mansion disregarded the young mistress and her, and she was even forced to replace the lowly woman as Mu An's concubine. Her beloved cousin must be suffering terribly.

But she couldn't even step out of the mansion gate, and it was difficult for her to see her cousin. The pent-up frustration she had been feeling these past few days surged up all at once.

Unable to bear it any longer, Yinzhi grabbed an empty plate and smashed it over Donghua's head.

Donghua was no pushover either; she swung her arm to block the plate, which shattered on the ground with a crash.

"Hey, you bunch of brats, running around causing trouble here! This plate costs three hundred coins, who's going to pay for it! If you want to fight, go outside. If you smash up my kitchen, I'll report you to the lord and have all of them sold off."

The kitchen manager went crazy and started yelling and cursing.

"Get out of here right now, take your masters' food boxes and get out of here!"

Yinzhi glared at them fiercely.

Turning her head, she saw that the maid who had come with her had already packed the food box.

Yinzhi's expression changed slightly. She walked over and asked in a low voice, "Did you take the wrong one?"

"That's right, it was an act as Auntie told me to."

Yinzhi breathed a sigh of relief, not wanting to cause any further trouble, and hurriedly said, "Let Gu Hua take it, let's go."

Yinzhi carried Mu An's food box, and the maid carried Gu Wanru's food box and left.

The maid was a second-class maid from the Gu family. After Yinzhi became a concubine, she was assigned to serve Yinzhi.

Yinzhi has a bad temper and always acts like a proper master, which she doesn't like and therefore doesn't put in any effort.

Yinzhi personally placed a bowl into Gu Wanru's food box and put the other two stewing pots together, instructing her to put one bowl into the young master's food box and to take the other bowl to Gu Hua later.

When Yinzhi hit someone, the maid turned around and realized that the bowl meant for the young master had been put into the master's food box by the kitchen manager.

She figured it was all the same ingredients anyway, so she didn't pay any attention and took the bowl that was supposed to be for the master and put it into the young master's food box.

Donghua looked at Yinzhi's retreating figure and said, "Pah! What a piece of trash."

Dongmo, carrying the master's food box, said with a stern face, "Alright, hurry up and serve the meal before it gets cold. This is stewed for Miss Hua, so you might as well take it."

Donghua knew she shouldn't have fought in the kitchen. She climbed up to the kitchen manager to demand compensation, and quickly followed Dongmo with Gu Hua and Zhou Zhilan's food boxes.